The Republican Attorneys General Association is asking Colorado voters if they want to elect a professor or a prosecutor as their next attorney general in the group’s second television ad, which began airing across the state Wednesday.

The ad contrasts Democratic nominee Phil Weiser, a former official in the Obama administration’s Justice Department and dean of the University of Colorado Law School, with Republican District Attorney George Brauchler.

Colorado Freedom, RAGA’s independent expenditure committee in Colorado, is spending about $550,000 to air the 30-second ad for a week on broadcast, cable and satellite stations statewide, a source familiar with the group’s thinking told Colorado Politics.

“Elections are about choices, and this ad ‘Prosecutor or Professor’ makes the choice for Coloradans crystal clear,” said RAGA Communications Director Zack Roday in a statement.

“When you’re running to be chief law enforcement officer – talking about protecting Colorado communities – experience matters. George Brauchler is a proven protector – a military veteran and a prosecutor – supported by Democrats and Republicans alike from across the state. Phil Weiser has never prosecuted a single case in his life and has never even practiced Colorado law. The choice in November will be easy, a proven prosecutor over a partisan professor.”

The new ad buy brings the group’s total spending in the race to just under $1.7 million, more than its spending in any other state to this point. Nearly all of that has paid for a TV ad touting Brauchler’s experience as a career prosecutor, which has been airing continuously since late June.

That’s when Weiser went off the air, after spending big on TV ads for about a month on his way to winning a close primary over state Rep. Joe Salazar, D-Thornton. A spokesman for the Weiser campaign said he doesn’t plan to return with another ad until early October, and the Democratic Attorneys General Association has not yet announced a spending plan for Colorado.

RAGA’s line of attack on Weiser isn’t new.

On the day primary ballots were due, Denver alternative weekly Westword examined Weiser’s courtroom experience – he’s litigated six cases, all at the appellate level – and compared that to the records of recent attorneys general.

As it turns out, only Republican John Suthers, the AG from 2005-2011 and currently the mayor of Colorado Springs, spent much time in court before taking the state’s top legal job, while his successor and two predecessors – Republican Cynthia Coffman, Democrat Ken Salazar and Republican Gale Norton – brought other backgrounds to the job.

Brauchler and Republican operatives have been pressing Weiser on his courtroom experience and signaling that they intended to base an attack on it for weeks.